EU optimism on rise

Only a year after the UK voted to leave the European Union, optimism about the future of the EU is increasing and trust in the EU is now at its highest level since 2010, according to Eurobarometer. In addition, close to half of Europeans are now optimistic about the state of their national economy. Respondents were also asked about their views on current challenges faced by the EU – terrorism has overtaken immigration as the major challenge felt by citizens, followed by the economic situation, the state of Member States’ public finances, unemployment and crime.

For the first time, 11 non-EU countries were also polled and a majority of respondents say they have a positive view of the EU. The two surveys, the “Spring 2017 – Standard Eurobarometer” and the “Flash Eurobarometer ‘Future of Europe – Views from outside the EU‘”, were conducted through face-to-face interviews – a total of 33,180 people were interviewed across the EU Member States and in the candidate countries for the Standard Eurobarometer – and through telephone interviews – a total of 11,035 people were interviewed in 11 non-EU countries for the Eurobarometer on views from outside the EU.